Ashes to Voices
by Void.of.the.Apocalypse
Summary: All of her life, she had a voice within her head. Unlike what most people would think, it was not Inner Sakura. It was another person - a soul, to be precise. This soul inside Sakura's head could not directly communicate with her, but she could influence - whispering, as Sakura called it. Watch as Sakura's story is rewritten with an evil soul and a voice that wants to be heard.
1. Ashes to Death

_There's an original, and I doubt I will publish it. The world that the new Inner Sakura lived and died in is an Alternate Universe that I created one night. If you don't understand some things, PM me, or take a look at my profile, I'll update it when I feel the need to._

* * *

She didn't understand why her life had to end the way it did. It just happened. Like everything in her life, it had to end with blood and death and misery.

Had she known that her land was up for grabs, she would have left. But because her Kingdom was ruled by a harsh dictator, no one told her or her old neighbor about the oncoming war the Nobles were going to have to take it.

She had died from collateral damage. Her small farm was one of the last to be attacked. They set it on fire, with their battle horses neighing in the distance. She told them to get off of her land, and they refused. Telling her that they don't take orders from pathetic scum, and tried to enter her home to loot it of what ever they came for. Had they known about her status in the next villages to the east and south, they would have known that she doesn't take anyone's bullshit.

She did what she did for a living.

She killed them. She stole their horses and looted them of their weapons and anything that she might have needed. Her actions left the Kingdoms in disarray. This little girl was a nobody, how did she kill off one of their best troops all alone? If the dictator had kept track of the Underground Fights then he would have known. She was a legend there. She could take on an entire army of the worlds best army all alone.

The Nobles wanted her on their side, she was after all a sign of strength in the neighboring villages. They had fought over her. Soon enough, they got bored of their tug-of-war with the pissed off woman. It had gotten to the point of threats. If she didn't join them, they would kill her... loved ones? They didn't know that she lived alone. That she lived to survive. She honestly didn't care if she had to make ties only to break them in the end. They bribed her and they threatened her. She could take on the strongest of the strongest troops, so what said she couldn't take on a few threats?

Soon, they got bored with her. Wasted troops for her to join them. It was her fault for gaining their attention. She had to pay.

They asked her for land. She refused. They asked her for money. She told them she had none. They asked her to teach their troops. She said she didn't like people. They told her she didn't have a choice. She said she doesn't, but death was still an option for both parties.

In rage, one of the Nobles burnt down her house and farm. They knew she was smart, but they thought that she would not think about being set on fire. What they hadn't known is that she knew. She didn't _know_. She _guessed_. Her motto was to prepare for the unexpected. Even if it meant that she was preparing for something bizarre.

She had set up traps to cage the soldiers in her land to burn. She knew she was going to burn, and had expected a fight and to die, but she didn't expect such a large number of knights. She counted thirty. She made sure to kill some in a fight, and let the rest burn in her lands. Her last words to the burning men beneath her were; "I have died many times in my lifetime, I am not afraid of some pathetic fire that I could have taken out. They should know that I am a wild bird, doing what I please when I please. I shall die tonight in laughter upon your burning corpses."

Like she had said, she died with a grin that could make the most brute of men shiver. Her bloodied form now nothing but burnt bones and flesh.


	2. Ashes to Birth

_Well, I hope this turns out decent. Please leave a comment on anything I may need to fix or anything you'd want to see. If you wantr longer chapters, then you might have to wait longer than these smaller chapters._

* * *

Pain like this was never experienced with her. She had simply numbed her mind to the sight and the pain would also have gone numb. She would have liked to say that she did not like this, but she had no mouth to speak her thoughts.

All around her was blackness. There was no light, there was no end. She knew that she was going to be alone in the after life, but... she had at least expected to see some of the faces that she had killed, or the people that were once important to her. She felt nothing but this new pain. She heard nothing but her own thoughts. She saw nothing but this empty blackness. She smelled nothing but burning wood and flesh. She tasted nothing but her own copper blood.

She was alone. No one to talk to. No animal to pet. Nothing to eat. Absolutely nothing to do.

The pain began to grow into her joints. Her bones aching - wishing for something to do.

She does not know how long it has been. She has been counting the seconds of how long she had been in that place - she could not count the water drops from a leaky ceiling or the different colors and shades of the walls and floors, for she had no room to do that in.

* * *

It had happened like a flash. She was looking off into her mind and thinking about her life and things she had done wrong. She did not know what happened at first, but as time seeped by, she started to slowly understand.

Pressure started to build up in the dark place she was in. She could feel walls pushing her somewhere. Where? She simply did not know.

As time began to crawl on, the walls the were pushing her stopped. There was the crying of a newborn child and cheers of joy from others around her. The blackness faded into a blur of colors, and she saw blurred people - one of them had faded pink hair.

The crying was still going on, and she did not know where it was coming from. The people were passing her around like she was a newborn child on its first moment out of the womb.

She did not like this. Not at all.


	3. Ashes to Questions

_Ahh~ I still can not believe I am still doing this. I hope you some-what enjoy this. I hope it turns out the way I want it to. I know this is sorta late, but I'd like to thank KellytheKid for being the first person to follow this. I was surprised that this even got a follow - especially so soon after I published it. I would also like to thank Strayedwolf94 for being the first person to favorite this, I know the number is almost pathetic, but it's the most I've ever gotten on this website._

* * *

She hoped she was not a phoenix of some sort. She had virtually turned to ashes, and now she had been reborn.

Well, that is if you would consider it being _reborn_. She knew that she was in some Japanese speaking language region from the baby-talk her _parents_ were giving her.

She knew it was Japanese from the occasional trading she had done with people from other regions. They were often artisans, creating something and selling them.

Now she wanted nothing more than to be back in her own home, even if it was ashes and littered with corpses. She often wondered why she was chosen to become reborn. She didn't even have the muscles to move around properly. Her movements were jerky and often happened out of her control. She knew that there was some sort of catch to her phoenix rebirth, everything did. She wondered if she would forget everything she knew. Or if she would have some sort of physical disability. Only Fate could tell.

Time seemed to crawl on - faster than in the womb, but it was still painfully slow in her books.

She started to see things in better clarity. Far better than before she died. She wondered what kind of family her family is. She knew that her parents were merchants, often taking their child with them or leaving her with a babysitter. Was she some distant branch of a clan? Maybe a lost clan in hiding? She didn't know.

Time started to fan out for her. One moment she had her first birthday, then what felt like a month later, it was her second birthday. The duration between the days she knew she spent in the darkest parts of her mind, often revisiting memories that she both loved and hated.

When she started to visit memories of this life, she realized that she hadn't ever looked at her own reflection. She made a mental note to do that at a later date. It could wait.

Her parents liked to talk, a little too much for her comfort, but she could adjust. She didn't know what they talked about at first, but started memorizing the language as fast as she could.

Her jerky movements only got worse. Her body moved on its own - and what scared her the most was that even her own speech was being affected, squealing out words that she once thought were gibberish. She was scared for what the future will be like, she didn't want to live forever moving and speaking against her will. It would completely destroy her pride and morals!

Weeks after her third birthday, she got a first look at herself. She was shocked. Beautiful green eyes, and pink hair. She was shocked to see _pink hair_ , who the hell had pink hair? She never heard of a clan of pink haired members, or any that had this kind of _energy_ within them. Pink hair she could somewhat understand, because there had been more wilder clan traits. But this energy? It was simply unheard of. They would have gotten at least some kind of attention with what she was already achieving, and she wasn't even five!

This... Energy that she could feel within her felt weird, it flowed in every inch of her body, and she wondered if this was the same as the strength control she taught herself. She tried to focus a layer of... _something_... at the top of her arm, and the results were unexpected. Instead of just simple tingling, the was tickling and a sheen of blue... _something_... and that was it. She didn't know if she damaged anything or if it was normal or if she was imagining things.

Only time could tell.


	4. Ashes to Knowledge

_I'm just going to make a giant time-skip. I'm a lazy author and I really don't know what else to write about for the next five or six years of Sakuras and the girls life. I would also like to thank Aurora Shadowglen for being the first person to review this, I'm still surprised over how this is ending up - and it hasn't been out for a week!_

* * *

Now she hoped that this wasn't an alien planet. This was crazy. She now didn't have any control of her body, and she didn't know what was going to happen.

She had often looked through the eyes of her... carrier - or who ever the hell controlled this mess of mind and limbs. What she saw wasn't usually something most people who want to keep someone's innocence ways the same. When she grew older and she some how figured out what her... hostess's name was, and the girl was able to understand and think more clearly, she herself was able to see and understand this world more clearly.

She already knew that her parents were merchants - but she did not like the kind of people they affiliated with. Most of them looked like the typical merchants, but others looked like they have been living in alleyways and smelled like grease and smoke with a touch that she simply could not remember. She learned a lot about the language, and she was sure that she was beyond her level for someone who had been partially reincarnated into some girl with pink hair was occasional echos of a small voice in the depths of the girls mind.

Thinking about it made the girls' mind hurt, all of them. All of their minds' were growing, the youngest two of them seemed older and knew how to speak at a young age and the older one seemingly got wiser. The girl did not know if it was because the Gods favored her or if it was just all luck. Pure, never lasting luck. She knew that the luck will run out. It is always the quietest before the storm - she liked saying that, you will get a surge of good luck, then it will quiet down, then all hell will break loose. With her luck and karma, she'll most likely loose some one close to her or her... hostess - which in turn is basically her.

Usually when she got bored over something or another, she tried to remember the good or the bad or fun or the sad to appease her raging headache of boredom. As her mind was running - it honestly didn't matter to her is it was smoothly or speedy or darting, as long as her mind was on something, it will most likely stay on it - she thought about how this could have been possible.

She thought of the different possibilities about this happening to _her_. She never was the one to be in the middle of attention. She questioned how she went from a lonely wanted-for-nothing-she-did thirty-six year old to a loved wanted-for-her-looks child. The differences between what she was and what the child is going to become when she can make semi-real friends and talk and walk are colossal. She grew up ignored by her parents, favoring the younger children. This child is growing up with lovely parents. She had her first kill at ten. This girl probably would never make her first kill.

There were some many things wrong with her previous life that she wouldn't be surprised to wake up in a dungeon chained to a wall and find out that everything was because of her mind conjuring up some wonderful wish she never knew she wanted - all because of being sucked into a coma. She had a blank slate to do what ever she wanted with. And what she did not want to know is what the hell to do with it. As many good memories she had before she died, she had more with this life.

There was only one thing certain with where that train of thought was going. Did her previous life suck so much that a girl no older than three have a better life than her?

* * *

 _Why do they do this to me?_

 _'... She said it is because they don't know who the true you is... They don't have any clue what your life is like... And they don't know what it's like to be wise far beyond your years. That's what she says, but I say it's because they're jealous of our amazing looks!'_

 _Do not trust._

 _Why does she not want me to trust them?_

 _'It's how she thinks... I did not say that!... Shut up!'_

 _What did she say?_

 _'... Nothing you need to know, with your innocent ears and mind and all.'_


	5. Ashes to Life

_I would like to thank Aurora Shadowglen again for her suggestions for Ashes to Voices, she is a really helpful person!_

* * *

"Really? Pink hair? What dignified person has _pink_ hair?"

 _'Really? Purple hair? What dignified person has_ purple _hair?'_ Inner Sakura mocked the girl in the young mind.

"P-Please leave me alone!" Cried a young pink haired girl, who held her legs close to her body.

 _Ignore them._

"And look at her forehead! It's like a billboard! Billboard Brow! B _il_ l _bo_ a _r_ d _Bro_ -"

 _Ignore them._

 _It is not your fault._

 _It's not my fault._

 _Run._

"Leave me alone!" The girl wailed and picked herself up, "Y-You don't know me! Leave m-me alone!" Her body jerked toward the street, forcing her to make a hasty retreat. The little girl didn't know why she was picked on because of something was born with, all she wanted was to be like the others and to be liked and to have friends like everyone else.

 _It's not fair!_

 _Life is not fair._

 _'Don't listen to that old woman, she's dead because of a stupid mistake.'_

The young girl always had voices in her head, she grew up with them and she considered them friends - but she could not see them, and she didn't know if everyone had voices in their heads like her. The young girl thought she was too young for the kind of thoughts one of them had - the silent one, is what she called her. The silent one was an older woman - at least that is what her Inner voice said. Her Inner voice had told her stories that the silent one had told her. The little girl thought that the silent one was brave, to face on as many men as she did - she wanted to become like her, once upon a time. But she did not know if she could deal with the bullying and the taunting.

 _'Oh, shut up, Shijima! At least I never died!... Whatever!...'_ Her Inner voice suddenly snapped.

 _What's she saying?_

 _'Nothing you need to know... So what!? It's none of your business... Whatever.'_

Slowing down to a stop, Sakura crawled onto a bench. She panted harshly, rasping when she coughed. She turned around to look at each side of the street, and realized that she didn't know where she was. Her wide eyed gaze turned into a frightened one, for she did not know how to get back home.

 _H-How do I-I get back home!?_ She wailed in her head, _I don't know where to go! And I don't wanna get lost!_

 _'I-I don't know, I'm- Wait, you know how to get us back home! Thank you! Thank you!'_

 _What are you talking about? Is it her?_

 _'Yes, yes... She says take a left, go on, she's like, forty, she knows where to go!'_

The pink haired child slid down from the bench, and ran to the left side of the street. When she reached the crossroad, she stopped and waited. Something told her to take a right. The rest of the hour she spent walking, listening to what she was told to do.

The sun was setting when she made it to her small home. It was a simple home, two stories and a basement and a small front and back yard. The orange and yellow hue and the purple streaked sky made her feel oddly nostalgic.

 _'Blame Shijima, apparently this reminds her of her home when she was younger.'_ Her Inner voice smugly told her.

 _Why do you call her Shijima?_

'It means silent. And because you can't hear her, I decided that it should become her name... Whatever. I'm called Inner. That's what I plan on being called... Whatever, lets get inside for bed, today was a long day for all of us.'

As Sakura walked inside her home, she thought about if she should become a ninja. A lot of people were ninja, and Shijima was like a ninja. She wanted to prove her bullies that she isn't weak and that she can be strong and take care of herself.

She kicked off her shoes and placed them by two larger ones, Sakura walked inside, and walked into a kitchen where two people were. "Kaa-san, Otou-san, how was you trip?" She smiled and ran up into her fathers arms and gave him a hug.

"Ah, well, we managed to get us enough to last us a few more months," Her father answered, patting her head with a smile, "And we also found something you might like!"

"I'm sure you'll love it." Her mother smoothly said, smiling like her husband.

"Oh, oh, what is it?" Sakura chirped, grinning as her father pulled out a chained necklace from his pocket and held it out to her. It was a silver chain necklace with a pendant. The pendant was simple, it had a smooth dark red oval shaped crystal trapped by swirling silver metal. He slipped the jewelry around her neck and watched her as she carefully picked it up and awed at it. "It's so pretty!"

"Yes, just like you, Sakura." Her father patted her head again, looking down at his short daughter.

"Where did you get this? How did you even afford it?" Squeaked the young child.

"Oh, we traded one of those vases and a chest for it," Her mother told her, "Natsuko said she found it when she traded some of her plants for some rare jewelry, and found this. She said that she has never seen something like this and doesn't know who rare it is, and decided to give you an early birthday present."

"When will I see Natsuko-oba-san?" Sakura asked.

"We'll see about going for her birthday party in September," Her father replied to her question, "But I guess we could go sometime mid April if we went trading."

 _'I like Natsuko, she's nice... Shijima also said she likes her.'_

"I like Natsuko-oba-san, I hope we can go visit her soon!"


	6. Ashes to Fights

_This by far is the first story that I have ever had on this site with this many views, I am so happy about that! Feel free to make any comments on the story that I might need to fix or you noticed that is confusing. Just to let you all know, Sakura is four, I wanted to have a scene where she is young and how Inner and Shijima interact with her when she was younger - I especially want to try and make a scene where Sakura gets into a fight with Ami and her crew. I know Ami has two friends in her little gang, but I'm a very bad lazy ass and decided to place around four other girls, so the gang size is seven girls._

* * *

 _I really, really love this necklace! It's very, very pretty!_ Sakura admired her new pendant.

 _'I still wonder how our parents got it.'_ Her Inner voice told her, _'Shijima said that the pendant is very rare, and should have cost us a village... Well what do you mean 'I guess'!? Aren't you a hundred years old?... Oh... Sorry.'_

The pink haired child was walking home from the park. Her parents told her to try and make real friends, friends who they would like. She didn't know if that could include her friends in her mind, but she didn't care. She sat in the sandbox and built a sandcastle and talked with the voices in her head, and she thought it was fun.

If they knew what she knew, they would be as baffled as her school teachers - like when she told them about a chunin ranked trap when it was her second month of school. Shijima would take the entire blame, she was almost as excited about that as Sakura and Inner would be if Sasuke looked at them. They knew not to mess with a child's chakra ways in the brain, so the only thing they gave her was a therapist. She would not be seeing those Yamanakas' any time soon.

The Inner and Silent voices _detested_ thinking about having their personal space being invaded. One of them hid in the shadows of the Dominant's mind, only there for wanted desires and needs that were pushed down to try and fit in - while the other was there by some sick twist in fate, forever remembering things that she does not know are real anymore.

"Hey look! It's forehead girl!" Ami laughed at her, sneering along with her gang of friends. While Shijima and Inner were silently cawing about getting into fights, Sakura was staring wide eyed at the girls who had tormented her for so long.

She hid her eyes behind her bangs, wishing the bickering in her head would stop so she could think clearly. The girls in front of her circled her mercilessly, staring her down like a kettle of vulture circling its' log gone prey.

"W-What do y-you want?" Sakura stuttered, keeping her green gaze down. Even if she was slightly different with her hair color and her large forehead and some of the motives behind her actions, she does not know why they treat her the way they do. They have their imperfections, and she has hers - so why is that enough for them to do what they do?

 _Ignore them._

"I-I'm gonna go home," Sakura said, clutching her elbows in an attempt to comfort herself, "Leave me alone."

"No way!" Ami made a noise that sounded like a high pitched snarl. "Do you think we'll let you just leave?" Her gang practically hissed in agreement.

"N-No, I j-just need to go home,"

 _'No, you just want to sleep... Wow, you're a lot more aggressive than I thought.'_

"I-I need to check up on my parents-"

"What?" One of Ami's friends snapped, "Are your parents old? They shouldn't need help from a ugly girl like _you_."

Sakura would have liked to run, but she was trapped and she was smaller then those girls - she really wished she had some friends that could show her how to defend herself, but she remembers that she doesn't have any friends that she can actually see.

 _If they get closer, fight._

 _Don't let them scare you._

 _They are the pathetic ones for not picking someone their own size._

 _Take them out, if they take it that direction._

She was scared, Shijima never influenced her this much. She never went out of her way to speak this much and give them all headaches just to pick a fight.

Sakura and the voices felt them coming closer more so than they saw. Eyes wide and more scared than she has ever been, she lashed out with a fierce right hook sending the girl to the ground.

 _Good, she deserved it. No one should corner a scared animal._

 _'Oh my, was that two decent sentences?'_

The other girls around her gaped at her actions, for they have never seen such thing coming from this fragile little plant, what is making her do it now?

It took them fourteen seconds for them to realize what she did - fourteen seconds too long in Shijima's books. They stared at her, wide eyed as their leader lied there on the ground, touching her face as if she has never been punched before. "You-You- _Get her!_ " She screeched, and clutched her face.

* * *

"Well, what have you all learned today?" A man with blond hair and baby blue eyes said, looking down at an injured knee.

"Don' pih' figh's wih' B-"

"Don't say that!" Ami cut off her friend - who had a broken nose - glaring at her.

To say Sakura was not surprised would mean she was lying. It felt like she knew what she was doing, that she was repeating moves that she has done hundreds of times before. Her own injuries were fewer than her opponents, she thought that there would be more if a certain blonde had not interfered.

Ino was... pissed that she saw someone being bullied - sure, she has never been bullied herself, but everyone is human and they have a right to live. When she had seen the pick little girl fighting against seven other children, she couldn't just stand there and let the small pink haired girl get beaten to a pulp!

... But to be honest, Ino felt a small connection when she saw a flash of green eyes look at her when the small child was on the ground. She felt the need to help her, to join in the fight.

 _Is this true love?_ She thought, while blushing, _B-But I'm a girl! And sh-she's a girl!_

Somehow calming down, she looked over to her father patching up another girl on the bench. "Thank you, Father, I really didn't mean to get into a fight, I just couldn't stand to watch as they bullied her!"

"And I would like to thank you - the both of you - for helping me." The pink haired girl said - _Is it weird that I don't know her name?_ \- "But I think I should get home, my parents are waiting for me."

Ino felt the need to ask her something, she wanted to know her name, "What's your name?"

The girl hesitated, looking down slightly and hiding her eyes underneath those bangs of hers, the she looked back at her with a new emotion in those green pools - bravery "My-My name is Haruno Sakura, What are your names?"

Ino brightened, smiling at Sakura, "I'm Yamanaka Ino and he's my father-" She nodded over to the man now sitting beside her on the ground,"-Yamanaka Inoichi."

The girl - Sakura - hums. Then as if being berated, she spoke, "Thank you for... interfering with the fight and helping me, Yamanaka-san. And thank you for helping me bandage up, Yamanaka-sama."

"P-Please, just call me Ino." The blonde blushed, and scratched her cheek.

Sakura simply smiled, which Ino responded with glancing at a rock a few feet away from them. "I hope the next time we meet won't be because of a pity fight, Ino-san."


	7. Ashes to Problems

_Ha, I decided to add a small one-sided SakuIno! I was bored and needed something that Ino felt about Sakura and so on an so on. This is going to mostly be a Sakura!centric with a small amount of Sakumulti. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and feel free to leave any comments about stuff I'll need to fix._

* * *

Sakura really did not know what happened after heading home. She thinks that she made a new friend, but then again, there was something wrong with it. First of all, who just walks into a fight between people said person does not know. Second, what happened about Shijima? She just suddenly disappeared one second, causing the bruise on her cheek, and the next there was a blonde girl fight off her tormentors.

 _I-I still don't understand what happened, can you please tell me again?_ She asked her Inner voice, slightly touching her bruise. She was worried what her parents will think when they see her like this. When she got home they were sleeping, so she had to clean herself up some more, being cautious of the bandages.

 _'Well, I don't really don't know what happened either,'_ The voice commented with a sigh, _'One moment Shijima was moving your body like she owned the place, then the next she just... disappeared. I'm not sure what happened, but I think she got into that Ino girl's mind. I had to take over for her so you wouldn't take as much damage, but it wasn't as good as hers.'_

 _Ah._ Sakura closed her eyes, thinking about the blonde girl, _Do you think she'll come back?_

 _'I hope she's the kind of person that seeks comfort and familiarity.'_

* * *

Ino did not know why she was thinking such thoughts, why would she think about Sakura like that? Why would she want to find her? Why were all of her thoughts about getting to know her?

When she saw the girl walk away from her, she had thought about what happened. Why had she threw herself in the fight when she didn't even know who was in the fight? Why had she blushed the way she did? Why is she even still _thinking_ about her? Why are there so many questions?

Something deep inside of her was telling her to find Sakura. It kept on whispering and whispering about how she looked like a nice friend, and that she'll have some other children to hang around with other that Shikamaru or Choji or the other clan kids. She wanted to know why. But the only thing she did not know was how this will end up, she was only five, a little bit older than Sakura. Ino thought - no , _knew_ \- that she does not have the age that it takes to tell the differences between good and bad, so what could go wrong with it?

 _Everything, yet nothing._

 _Alright, it's decided._ Ino thought to herself, _I_ will _find Sakura, and I_ will _become her friend!_

* * *

Waking up for breakfast was not the same usual happy talks about business or some new gossip about friends or family, but it was filled with unhappiness and regret.

"Why didn't you wake us up?"

"You should've told us you were being bullied like this, we could've helped you!"

"We love you, you know that? Why didn't you tell us?"

" _Why didn't you tell us?_ "

Only Sakura did, she told them about Ami and her gang, the teasing, everything. They didn't tell her anything, they just said that they were jealous of her looks and they didn't know how else to express it.

And if she truly didn't tell them they way it _actually_ was, they would have moved to Suna or Kumo or some other place where they have relatives or close friends.

* * *

 _Those are Anthurium, and they mean hospitality. This is a Carnation, it stands for pride and beauty. I think I got this!_ Ino thought to herself, _Burdock. Huh, Burdock? What does that mean? Why did I even think about that anyways?_

"Hey, Dad," Ino started, and looked over to her father, who was sitting behind the counter of their shoppe, "What does Burdock stand for?"

"Hm, Burdock stands for boredom, why?" Inoichi told her.

"I just thought about how every plant has a meaning to it, and I wondered about Burdock."

"Ah, why don't you keep on practicing memorizing the flowers."

"Hm!" And Ino turned back to her book. _Oh, Orange Lily means wealth and pride \- hatred and disdain as well. What?_


	8. Ashes to Experience

_Sorry for the delay, I kind of got busy with school._

* * *

"I hope you're not bothered by the cold," Her father chimed in, tugging his yellow scarf closer to his face, "Kumo is known to be kinda cold. And I know how much you like that green scarf - even though it looks like it could be a blanket with your size."

"Hm," Sakura smiled behind her navy green scarf.

Kumogakure was the land of the clouds. It was mostly a mountainous range, but yet it held some small pine tree forests. Sakura was born in Konoha, where it was always sunny and warm and was rarely cold enough to have more than a few centimeters of snow during the winter - but, oddly enough, she enjoyed the cold. It was like a breath of fresh air needed after long hours in the storage helping with her parents for the next run for trading.

"Well, I think it's high time for you to meet one of my best trading buddies." Her father cheerily said, his eyes gazing off at another direction as memories of their best times together flashed through his mind.

* * *

Ino was distracted. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn't place it. She always had this pulsing sensation going on in her head, like she was forgetting something but could not remember what it was. It started a few days ago when she tried to look for Sakura, but she could not find anything of her. Ino knew something was wrong when the small headaches came on a few hours after her little expedition, but yet again she was at a lost like the pinkette she decided to defend.

If only she had set out to find Sakura earlier, but she had to do family business first. Ino wondered if she'll get a second chance to find Sakura, but only time will tell.

* * *

The door ringed as it opened, "Welcome to Aomaru's Shoppe, what are you looking for on this lovely day?"

Her father chuckled, "I'm looking for Aomaru, he owes me and my family a small favor."

The man, who was a simple brunette, smiled, "Ah, he's in the back, I'll take you to him."

The Shoppe was nothing special, Sakura mused, it was an antique shoppe that had almost everything that dated before the second Hokage. And that went pretty far back. The shoppe had an old rusty smell - _like blood_. The thought almost startled her, _what's happening?_ Her parents followed the brunette behind the cash register and into a backroom where there were even more old knickknacks and - surprisingly - Samurai armor.

"Hey, Aomaru, you have some guests that want to talk with you," The man leading them spoke loudly, knocking on the wooden frame.

There was some shuffling and clinking, and then silence, "Yeah? Well let me see!" Came an old mans voice, sounding pleased, "Is it the Kodon's? Or what about the Kamizuru's?"

"Aomaru, it's me, Haruno Kizashi-"

"Ah, yes," The voice came again, interrupting Sakura's father, and finally an older man with dusty white hair came out and smiled at the small family. "Kizashi! It has been years since I have last seen you!"

Kizashi chuckled, "I know, but my family is here to visit another one of my friends, and I decided to stop and see how you've been."

* * *

She didn't know what it would feel like if she went back to Sakura - Who was God knows where - from Ino. As much as she liked to learn and corrupt Ino, she felt herself fading - getting weaker. She assumed that it was because Sakura was her anchor of some sorts, and she needed to live off of her like some sewer rat to dead goldfish and other edible flushed or drained stuff.

The feeling was like taking a rubber band around your wrist and snapping it, but your body was that small part of your body that had so many functions. She felt pain like no other. Sure, the fire had hurt more than this, but the licking flames came gradually, not like being struck with a pebble from a slingshot.

Time was warped, she thought, her mind racing with possible lies and solutions that she could make to this new issue, it was eerily similar to the womb, but yet different. She could hear things, feel things. Instead of a black nothingness, it was a black mist covering an unknown forest of different trees and plants. Instead of no sound, there was the sound of flames cackling, light laughter, and the howling wind.

Her eyes burned, her head burned, but at the same time she felt relaxed. She never thought about getting into those kind of situations, and she had never felt this kind of feeling, all it did was make her rowdy and excited and scared and fearful of the vast unknown that she has yet to explore. She tried to move her index finger, she meant it to be a simple twitch, but it ended up as a large jerking movement of the hand and wrist.

She made a growling noise at the back of her throat, and cursed. She attempted to do it a second time, but slower and being more careful. It jerked again, and she let out a string of curse words that would make a sailor blush.

Calming down her erratic breathing, she closed her eyes, and she tried it a third time.

A scream made her jump.

* * *

I decided to put up the original story. It sucks ass, but I decided to put it up. It's called _Hidden in the Pages_ , and it's the first chapter _Me, Myself, and Her._


	9. Ashes to Cinders

Sakura opened her eyes to a white room, where was she? Where was her parents? Why was she here?

Those questions raced through her mind as she sluggishly looked around the room. It smelled clean and had that ting which irritated her nose, which she did not take lightly to by scrunching up her face.

"He-Hello?" She croaked, then coughed. "Mom... Dad?"

She looked around the room, which she realized was a hospital room. It was white, and there was a heart monitor next to her bed, and IV's and bandages on her arms. She tried to remember what happened, she remembered meeting her father's friend, then her father asking for a place to stay at, the nice two bedroom home he lived in, then... then what? She couldn't remember anything other than entering his home.

Maybe something happened, she hit her head and they took her to the hospital, and they'll come back to her, right?

Sakura scratched her neck, and rubbed her wrists, shouldn't Inner and the quiet one help her with this... this dilemma? Shouldn't they be helping her through this dark time with her? What if... what if they don't come back? What if her parents ditched her for some unknown reason? What if her friends decided that she was too weak, and had to learn how to fend for herself?

What if she never sees them again?

She panicked, so many questions ran throughout her mind - all of them never saw the light of an answer, and none of them were forgotten.

* * *

She didn't know if this was safe - well, she was sure that _none_ of this was safe, but it still happened.

Those places, those memories. They were _hers_ , they were _there_ , and she _loved_ it. And all at the same time, it scared her, scared her because she knew that it was all gone, that it was all just her imagination.

At least she knew even the dead can imagine.

As much as she loved them and basked in the memories, she wanted it all to go away and leave her alone. She wanted to be alone, she wanted to know what it is really like to be dead, not partially reincarnated as some ridiculous pink haired child.

She wanted to know why people fear death, when she had faced it in the face so many times, and even experienced what it was like to die, to see everything through a different light.

Maybe it was just her, but she didn't like feeling alive anymore. Was it all worth it? Was it all just her imagination wanting to feel what it was like to be loved for what it was and not so it could be used like a tool and to be thrown away when broken? Should she keep on going, acting like nothing happened, that she hadn't just tried to get Sakura a new friend? Was any of this worth it? Why was she till going on? Why was she still communicating with those little children that should have friends their own age?

She stopped her thoughts, if she was questioning everything, should she not also be questioning why she was questioning everything?

Letting out a breath, she frowned, maybe she should just let it all go, do what she did when Sakura was starting to develop her own personality. She should have done that ages ago.

* * *

The grey replica of Sakura gasped as she thudded against a tree. She sat there, dazed a little, then shook her head. Looking around, she saw that the tree she fell on was the only tree for a mile or so. Everything else was heather and flowers. The sky startled her. It looked like there was a massive fire, red and grey and black danced around the horizon, almost like the whole world was on fire around here even though there was not an speck of heat of fire in her vicinity.

"A tree!" She cried, shaking in fury, "Why couldn't I have fallen on a pile of grass!"

She took a breath, and let it out, "Okay, where am I?" She inquired, taking in the scenery in more detail, "Where's the old hag and Saku-chan? Hello!"

Inner Sakura growled, her face scrunching up in fury, "Where the hell am I! Is anyone else here?" She sucked in a breath, and slowly let it out. Her frown was still etched on her face, and she walked away from the tree, which she realized was a cherry blossom, but its' petals were black and its' bark looked like it was just in a fire. "Wow, what creativity, who's tree does that belong to? Is it Shijima's? 'Cause it looks like it doesn't belong to me or Saku-chan." She muttered.

She turned away from the tree, and walked away from the tree - and left for the surrounding forest of what was now confirmed to be pine trees. Inner Sakura snarled as she tripped over something and felt the pressure of something hard and pointed sick into her back, "Owow! What the hell?!" She rolled over onto her stomach and gasped.

Bones were in her mindscape(or this mindscape, she still didn't know how she got there.). "What's exactly goin' on?" She snapped at nothing, rolling away from the bones, only to have rolled into a burnt building with more bodies. She her eyes went wide and she screamed, coming face to face to the burnt body of a woman, who's face looked like it was grinning menacingly.

Inner Sakura stood up and ran away from the building, only to trip over a hot log and started another fire. She screamed bloody murderer as one of the hot ashes caught on her small form and burnt her clothing. Cackling made her cease her screaming, and the voice that was cackling said something - something of which was in another language. The cackling was buried behind the noise of the flames eating away what was left of the building, and started to spread out ward, to the forests beyond and the black petaled tree.

 _'I have died many times in my lifetime, I am not afraid of some pathetic fire that I could have taken out. They should know that I am a wild bird, doing what I please when I please. I shall die tonight in laughter upon your burning corpses.'_

* * *

 _I really don't want to spoil anything for the next chapter, but I will tell you that little Sakura was hit on the head. It should clear any questions that you have._

 _I imagine that a hard enough blow to the head should be enough to send someone to the hospital, there have been cases where victims have lost memories, that is the case with Sakura, she cannot remember what happened after she entered Aomaru's home. Because she lost her memory, the other voices would have been fucked up too, Shijima is visiting some place where Inner should be, where she can see memories she wants to see(but Shijima is inexperienced so they just come randomly), and Inner is where Shijima usually is. Shijima usually avoids her resting place like the plague, but because that is unexplored territory for Inner, Inner goes and explores the mindscape Shijima lives in. She stumbles upon a dead body, then literally rolled to where Shijima died._

 _I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please tell me of any mistakes that I didn't see. And please tell me if you think there should be a Uchiha Massacre or not, and if the fourth Hokage should be alive with his wife and son(the orange ball of energy and fluff hasn't been mentioned, neither has the Hokage, so basically anything can happen now.)._


	10. Ashes to Sparks

An old man sighed, and huffed out a cloud of smoke, "And why did he have to go after a civilian family?" He questioned himself, the hummed after reading another paragraph in the small child's files - whose face was on the top left of the paper - "Ah, I guess I can send Hound and his team to fetch her, who knows what's going to happen now."

* * *

Why can't she remember?

Why must everything be so-so unusual? Why isn't Inner or Shijima talking to her? Being her Therapist? Are they even still there?

Did... Did they leave her like her parents?

Sakura sat there, crying and crying, wishing someone would help her and talk to her.

Did she do something wrong? If so, what did she do?

The small four-year-old girl wailed in her knees, shaking with misery and pain, needing someone to hug and hold her close.

Where was she going to go? Was she going to her grandmother? Or was she going to stay here in Kumo?

She suddenly gripped her hair, for a large pain in her head made her stop her depressed thoughts. She clenched her jaw, holding back whimpers, but letting the tears fall. After a brief moment, the pain stopped, and she cried some more, why was this happening to her?

 _Grow a damn backbone._

Sakura stopped, was that-was that _Shijima_? She didn't leave her, after all?

 _Stop your pathetic crying, it is going to lead you nowhere._

Sakura's eyes brightened, and she let out a small smile, Shijima was still here! She stayed!

Her smile fell, where-where did she go, though? Was she thinking about leaving her? Would she leave her if she kept on her crying?

"Haruno Sakura," A voice snapped her out her of her thoughts, "Are you Haruno Sakura?"

Sakura nodded, teary eyes looking down at the ground in front of her.

The man coughed, as if unsure what to say, "We are here to take you back to Konoha, to your Grandmother, I believe."

Sakura glanced at him. It was only mean't to be a glance, but something caught her attention. He was there, but his image was transparent, and behind him was a man with brown hair peaking behind a clay mask. The image in front of him was taller and had no mask a a lighter shade of brown hair than the one behind him, what was going on? With now answer, her red and puffy eyes glanced back at her shoes.

The transparent man frowned, and kneeled in front of her. She noticed that the one with the mask also kneeled in front of her as well, like he was controlling it from the inside. They both held out a hand, which she looked at briefly, "Do you want to come back to Konoha? I'm sure you don't want to stay here in the hospital forever."

* * *

In the end, the man had to carry her out of the hospital, lifting her up like a baby that wanted to be held. Sakura clung to him like a lifeline, either afraid to fall or just needed the human contact.

All in the while, Shijima was spitting curses at the man, saying things that would make her parents ground her for a month.

All Sakura did was clench her jaw and push her further to the back of her mind.

"Is this the girl?" A voice asked, one that still had the youthfulness of childhood.

"Who else has pink hair?" Another one snapped back, sounding annoyed.

Well, maybe listening to Shijima snarl at them might be a little more interesting.

Something in her told her to look at them, to lift her head to at least know what they look like.

One of them had black hair and a mask that looked like it could be a ferret or weasel of some sort, and the other had silver gravity-defying hair and a mask that might as well have been a dog. She saw nothing special about them, other than the stiffness of the Weasel, and the alert look in the others' posture.

Why would she need to observe them?

The small nagging in the back of her mind did nothing to help her.

* * *

They were only a days' way from the land of Fire, and the only thing slowing down the young ANBU team was a small pink haired child.

The first day they met her, she was quiet and seemed to observe them. Nothing wrong with that, considering what happened to her parents.

The second day she woke up screaming, clutching her head. The ANBU didn't know what to do other than stand off in the sidelines. A solid half hour of screaming later, she curled up into herself and passed out, to say the ANBU were not relieved would have been a lie. The rest of the day was spent caring around a depressed child.

On the third day, she seemed perfectly fine. She had tried to start a few conversations with her escorts, but to stop an hour later realizing they were all icicles. But she was perfectly fine chatting away with the now reunited Inner.

One the fourth and fifth day, the small child was a bipolar mess. Crying by herself, and speaking to no one. The ANBU thought the girl needed some space to grieve some more.

The sixth day she seemed to hate everything that she saw, spitting and hissing at the ANBU that tried to hold her, slowing them down by a day.

The seventh day the small child seemed to be a little quiet(inside she was being scolded for her thoughts that her parents might still be alive somewhere) and the ANBU were worried what might happen next, not knowing she is on one of her final stages of grief.

On the last day, they question her sanity.

"Hey, did you know that the color red symbolizes war and strength?" She inquired that afternoon, as she was on the Weasels back as they traveled, "And apparently it increases metabolism and blood pressure, I read that somewhere from a friends book on the meanings of some things. Did you know that the yellow rose used to mean jealousy? Now it means joy and caring."

They had never been more relieved to see the Hokage's building before.

* * *

"Oh, my" Her grandmother said as she held her grand daughter close, "I am so sorry you had to go through that, my Darling, I wish the best for their poor souls."

"Grandma," The small child in her arms said in a muffled voice, her arms rapped around her grandmothers neck, "I wanna become a Shinobi and-and protect my precious people!" She pulled away to look into aged blue eyes, "I don't want to weak anymore! Please, will you allow me to go to the academy?"

* * *

 _Sorry if this chapter sucks ass, my brother's being a little cunt and my family is tight on money and Basketball season(at my school, at least) is ending this week and wrestling starts after that._

 _I'm not sure if I have the five things pf grief right, but that's because I never held a close person to me die before._

 _I'm pretty sure because of Itachi's relationship with Sasuke he would know what to do with a child like Sakura who just lost her parents, but his parents are alive and kicking at this time, so this most likely is the first real experience with a grieving child._

 _I know Kakashi was placed on the same squad as Itachi when Itachi became an ANBU, but I'm not too sure about Tenzo(Yamato), so if you want you can think the one who had the genjutsu on was him if you want._

 _Sakura's grandmother is going to be from her fathers side, so she'll have a tinted pink hair color, she's also the second OC to be in this fanfic who has a name and will appear often._

 _I have a question, do you think I should change my username? I was thinking of changing it to '_ Archive of the Miserable Souls _' like my FictionPress account._


	11. Ashes to Friends

From the age of five, Sakura had always wanted to become a Shinobi.

No, she didn't want to become a Kunoichi, she wanted to become a _Shinobi_.

Because to become powerful, she had to be a Shinobi, not a Kunoichi.

Sakura wanted to become a Shinobi, so to become a Shinobi she must never show their emotions( _'Shijima'll burn you emotions to the ground, literally.'_ )

...But, there were times in which that law was inappropriate, Sakura thinks, such as being around her grandmother whome she loves very dearly.

"Grandma, you didn't have to get me him," Sakura sighed, and she held the squirming ferret, its raccoon-like patterned face swinging left and right looking for an escape rout, "I really don't need him."

"But Sakura-chan, darling," Her grandmother answered her, patting the ferrets head, "You are so lonely, and you only have that Ino girl as your friend. I want you to be happy, so I want you to take him."

Said girl huffed, and smiled, "Does he have a name?"

"No, he is still young and his previous owners were selling him and the rest of the litter, so they never named him." Sakura's grandmother smiled, "You can name him."

Sakura frowned, thinking about names fit for a ferret, "Isn't a ferret related to a weasel?" She murmured, the gazed down at the animal in her arms, "I think I'll name him Kamaitachi, do you like it, Grandma?"

"It's a wonderful name, darling."

"No, it isn't. It's a bland name."

* * *

"Everyone, this is Haruno Sakura," Said her new sensei, "She will be here with you until the end of the semester."

Whispers broke out, some about her hair, others about her reputation, and something about _Sasuke-kun_. She could already feel the hatred in the forefront of her mind by that name. The whispering stopped when the sensei, who went by the name Katsu, coughed and started to talk again.

"Well," He said, turning to face her, a small smile on his face, "Are there anythings you want to say about yourself?"

'Let them question us.' Inner told her, and sneezed, 'Well, say something, but be very, very vague.'

"Well, my name's Sakura," Sakura started, clenching her jaw and slightly biting her tongue, "I like animals... I think I like weasels... I like to read... Yeah..."

A hand rose, and the speaker didn't wait for permission to speak, "Is your hair n-"

"Yes," She snapped, glaring at the brat who asked the popular question, "Everything's real, everything's natural. My parents would kill me if I dyed my hair."

The sensei seemed to laugh at the statement, for he made a weird face and looked away.

* * *

At six, she finally met Ino again. Even though they hadn't met each other since that fight, they still remembered the other. Ino was glad that she could meet the person she helped, and Sakura was glad that Ino was the only one who the Voices seemed to not mind. In fact, they seemed to like the girl.

"S-Sakura-san?"

"Please call me Sakura."

"A-Ah."

 _'I just love that girl! She is_ so _nice!'_ Inner gushed.

"W-Will you hang out-out wi-th me later?" Ino asked, looking down, while Sakura sat there, smiling.

"Sure," Sakura chirped, "But I'll have to bring a friend, he doesn't like it when I leave him behind after school."

* * *

"That's your friend?" Ino asked as she looked down at the creature in her companions arms, "B-But it's a rat!"

Sakura frowned, were all girls like this? "Kamaitachi's not a rat, he's a ferret. If anything, he's a weasel."

Ino paled, looking at the 'ferret'. But-But this was the person she wanted to befriend, so she must deal with these obstacles. "Yes, okay, he's a ferret." She said, nodding, "But how did you get a... ferret?" Ino added, with hesitation about the rodent now roped around Sakura's neck.

Sakura paused, remembering the bitter memories of her parents... fall. Hesitating, she opened her mouth, "I... got them after my parents... passed away."

Ino's eyes widened, for she hadn't known that her friend was an orphan. "Oh my, I-I'm so sorry! I-"

"It's alright," Came Sakura's firm voice. Ino never liked it when her (almost)friend became like that. Sakura always seemed to be a different person when her voice randomly changed in octaves. "It happened awhile ago, and I was told to never look into the past, but to use it as a tool as a goal to see the future."

She kept her eyes on the pinkette, worried she said something wrong, "S-Sakura-chan-n?"

Sakura looked down, and stayed that way for a short second, then looked back up to her friends gaze, "Yes, Ino-chan?"

The blonde's eyes widened, and she smiled, "I-I just want to say that Kamaitachi looks really cool!"

* * *

 _Sorry if this is short, I just really want to get this chapter out so I can announce somethings._

 _I know that life with my education and all is time consuming, but recent events have left me extremely pissed off. One of the is transportation issues, I am mission the last hour of school because of my step-father's job and I really don't like that I am behind in one of my classes. The other is more of a family issue, and I think mt parents might be getting a divorce soon. I have been really pissed off the past week from the yelling outside of my room, the crying of my halfwit of a sister and a bastard of a brother, and the complaining of my mother. I will keep on writing once this whole ordeal is done and over with, but I feel like I can't write happy moments anymore._

 _I will still be writing mt two other stories because I seem to be more in tuned with more of the depressed writing._

EDIT; Holy mother of weasels, there were a few mistakes. Thank Inanna I read this chapter like two months after its release...


	12. Ashes to Memories

"You mean you've never seen him before?" Ino exclaimed, clutching Sakura's red pillow, clothed in her baby blue pajamas, "He's like one of the cutest boys in the _entire_ world!"

"Mm," Sakura hummed, brushing her short hair, "I don't understand how you can be so... so in love with someone you have only seen before." she said, looking at her friend, who looked like she was about to squeal. "I mean, does he even look at you?"

"We-Well," her friend stuttered, "I-It's just that he's so-so cute, and he's an _Uchiha_! His older brother is awesome too, did you know that his older brother is already a Jonin!"

Sakura sighed at Ino, and placed her brush down on her desk beside her sleeping ferret. "Yeah, and did you know that I am a schizophrenic? Look," the pink haired child said, with a slightly pointed look in her eyes, "I don't necessarily care for things like that. I mean, isn't there more to life than boys and drama and gossip. There's only one of those three that actually has a use in a shinobi lifestyle."

Ino looked at her strangely, and huffed, "Well, he's cute." she said with her arms crossing. Kamaitachi twitched and sat up, glancing around he jumped off of the desk and onto Ino's shoulders and leaped onto Sakura's shoulders. Ino squealed as the ferret touched her for that moment, and hopped off of the red themed bed.

"Ohh, so you've finally awaken, my darling," Sakura cooed at the ferret, patting his head. Kamaitachi pressed his head on her cheek, and nipped at it, making Sakura giggle.

* * *

She tossed, she turned, and she couldn't seem to be getting anywhere.

 _Memories_.

Memories that _were not hers_.

She remembered planting herbs and talking about how useful they were and what they were for, she remembered taking care of animals and how to treat them for sicknesses and other things, and she remembered _burning_. Cackling fire, burning a beautiful red, and the scent of burning flesh and wood and somehow wet mud.

She rubbed her face, groaning.

 _Is there anything to do?_ she thought, questioning her motives to stay in bed for so long.

 _'You can read one of those books that your ma' used to read,'_ her inner voice commented, clearly exhausted. _'I do not wish to see anymore of Shijima's life anymore!'_

Sakura's eyes widened, Those were Shijima's memories?

 _'Yeah,'_ Inner commented in a strained voice, 'Shijima loves to see the forests she raised herself in, it looked like one of those fantasies that you used to read.'

 _I'd like to see one of those, Konoha's mostly filled with homes and buildings to actually see any forests or wildlife._ Sakura grimaced, and tossed herself onto her side.

* * *

"Sakura-chan!" Ino ran up to the pink haired girl and hugged her, "I am so glad we have the same class again, who knew!?"

After the first memory that belonged to Shijima, Sakura had tried to stop them. By not sleeping, sleeping, reading less, reading more, reading different materials, talking to Kamaitachi. And with all of those, the memories still came, increasing.

At first, the memories were blotched and no time setting, but as time went on, it seemed that they restarted over and started at her first memory.

From her first pet, to her first bonfire, and to her last breath. Sakura hated Shijima's death, at that point of time, she could feel what Shijima was feeling, and her death scared her.

She could feel the strange knives cold steel slicing her skin, and she could feel the fire licking at her feet and legs and arms. She also realized that when the people that were attacking her knocked over some poisonous plants and had spread the leaves and roots and soil everywhere, that Shijima had already lost the battle.

Sakura remembered when Shijima's teacher told them about the plant, the plant looked something similar to a bon zai tree and held enough poisonous sap and leaves and roots to kill a few nations with only a few of those trees, was even more lethal when turned to water vapor and was even slower than what it was in its' liquid form.

So, Shijima had set the place on fire, laughing at their pain and her own pain. She had cried out words that was different than what she grew up with; _'I am not the one who will start fights, I am the one who will end them.'_. Sakura knew there were multiple ways out, and she thought that Shijima knew as well. Shijima could have taken that tunnel rout that was in her basement, or she could hav-

"So you know how Sasuke has his older brother, right?" Ino said, taking Sakura back to reality, "Well, I heard that he's an ANBU now, isn't that cool? Oh, and did you know the Hyuuga heiress doesn't own that spot anymore? Apparently her baby sister stole it after a one-on-one fight."

Ino was a heiress to the Yamanaka clan, a clan that specialized in the brain area and torture methods. They also were like the gossip queen in the clans of the land of fire, which strangely pleased Shijima.

* * *

"Well, I am your sensei for this year, and you may call me Iruka-sensei."

 _'Well, let's hope that he actually teaches us something without biting at that blond.'_ Inner commented in a breezy voice, almost like she didn't care what actually happened.

"Now, from what I've gathered, you're previous sensei left you at the weapons training," the new teacher said, looking over a stack of paper with a sheepish smile, "He also said some warnings about a few of you, some good, some bad."

 ** _I remember..._** Shijima's voice rasped out in the back of Sakura's mind, sounding pleased and happy.

"Now, shall we?" Iruka said, walking next to the door, "I want to see for myself how good you all are."

* * *

 _Holy shit, this is short._

 _I am really sorry about the long wait, but things in my life aren't exactly smooth right now, and I might be getting a job soon._

 _I plan on having the other two stories updated by the end of this month, and hopefully with longer chapters._


	13. Interlude: Sparks and Change

By far, Sakura liked their new teacher better than the others. Inner liked him as well, and she thought that Shijima should stop intimidating the teacher whenever she could.

Shijima loves to throw weapons, especially things like kitchen knives, where she could grip at the blade without cutting her hand with the weird way she preferred to throw. She did that once, and she thought that their sensei would've had a heart attack if it wasn't for the fact that the school nurse was there watching them practice.

But, as much as she loved her style of throwing, she had to abide to the schools' rules and teachings. Shijima never liked anything, and her feelings to something she _really_ liked or disliked were enhanced and affected Sakura, though she seemed to be more aggressive to the things she didn't like.

Sakura hummed with Kamaitachi snoozing in her arms, and shuffled around her room, picking some of the knickknacks that he had thrown around while she was gone at school.

She placed the photo of her and her grandmother next to the red hammock made out of an old shirt, and softly placed Kamaitachi on the small hammock.

Turning around, she smiled, and promptly left her room.

 _'Didn't Ino say something about going to the park with her friends? We should go there.'_

 _I'll have to ask grandma._

* * *

Sakura walked into the park with Kamaitachi curled around her neck, and she glanced around for her blonde friend, only to meet with a young boy that she remembered to be in her class. He was sitting alone, with the people passing by glaring at him, Sakura could _feel_ the depression radiating off of him. He wasn't always like this, she noted, he's always loud and bright and vibrant.

 ** _Go talk to him._** Shijima rasped, and Sakura could feel her being pushed to him. **_Go to him._**

Sakura obeyed, knowing that Shijima was trustworthy. She slid into the swing next to him, and stared at the boy contently. He was oblivious as she stared at him, slowly swinging with his head hung low. Sakura glanced at the people glaring at him and whispering things that she knew are not nice. She glared at them, clearly saying _get lost_.

She turned back to him with a softer stare, and slid off of the swing to stand in front of him. With crossed arms, she stared at him some more, and he started to be aware of her presence. His head snapped up, and his wide blue eyes looked up at her.

"Hi," she started, tilting her head to the side, "I'm Sakura, and I wanna be friends with you."

He stared at her in confusion, and then glared at her, "What is this? A joke?" he asked in disbelief.

"This is no joke," Sakura answered, smiling, "I really want to be your friend."

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Naruto asked his partner in crime, "You know you could back out? What-What will your parents think?"

Sakura turned to face him, "Yes, I want to do this, I want to become your friend, to gain your trust."

"Then what about your parents?"

"My parents are dead," Sakura sighed, "I live with my grandmother."

Naruto's eyes widened, "I'm so-sorry, I didn't know!" Sakura smiled, and waved him off. She got back to her task, which was painting the Hogake's faces on the mountain.

After she introduced herself, Naruto wasn't too sure if this was real, so he asked her to help him with something. She said she agreed, that she wanted his trust, and he told her what he was going to do. He said it with a fierce determination look in his eyes, and that pleased Shijima. Sakura wasn't too sure what Shijima was proud about, but Sakura was making a new friend! She loved to hang out with Ino and her friends, and she has been thinking about making some newer friends.

Sakura smiled, "What's your favorite food? I'm sure I could find a restaurant to get us something to eat later."

Naruto's face lit up with excitement, "Oh, oh, I love ramen! Especially the kind from Ichiraku's!"

"That's good," Sakura grinned, almost matching Naruto's flashing face, "I think I have enough to get us a few bowls."

* * *

"Sakura, darling," her gradmother's voice echoed through out the house, "come here, I believe that you want to know more about your heritage."

Sakura's eyes snapped open, and she yawned. Raising her head, she peeled off the paper on her cheek and the ferret on er face. She yawned again, and stood from her desk. She wobbled across the room and into the hallway, and to the attic where her grandmothers voice had came from. She entered the attic, and saw her grandmother kneeling over a large chest.

"Grandma?" she asked hesitantly, not knowing what she meant by 'heritage'.

"Ah, here it is." her grandmother sighed, taking out an old scroll. Turning around, she faced her granddaughter. "I ust wanted to tell you about your family's history."

"The Haruno's are just a small merchant family, right?" Sakura asked, and sat next to the elderly woman.

"Oh, no, darling," her grandmother answered, a small laugh in her voice, "at first, we were a travelling caravan family, telling stories and sing songs for food and small knickknacks and souvenirs."

Sakura's eyes widened, "What kind of stories did we tell? And what kind of songs did we sing?"

Her grandmother laughed, "It's all in here, I remember when I was a small girl - younger than you - when my great grandfather would tell stories of how he lived through the wars, about how he used his youthful civilian charm to hide his shinobi talents."

"We had shinobi in our family?"

"Yes, we did." her grandmother answered, "The Haruno's were primarily earth and water types, most of them were merchants for clans, while some of them fought along with them. I always thought we were a branch of the Senju, because of our nature release jutsu."

Sakura's mouth was wide, "So we have our own special jutsu?"

Her grandmother smiled at her amazement. "Not really, we just have our own affiliation with our affinity or affinities."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Because of our earth and nature affinities, we have a nature release, like what the first Hokage had(only his was a wood release). While the Senju were known for having their special releases, ours were nearly identical to theirs. The only thing being different was that we didn't have one release, ours came and went, never the same. It was once said that our releases were caused by emotions and personalities, and that there was no such thing as 'stoic' or 'emotionless' in our family."

Sakura stared at her grandmother, confusion emitted from her face, "Why weren't we called a clan, then?"

Sakura watched as her grandmother grimaced, then smiled again with glowing eyes, "That was because we were originally a travelling circus, we held no loyalties, no ties with any clans or villages, only to us and our loved ones. It was also due to our... differences... in our looks, in our techniques. Like if you were born and you held a lava release and had a brother with a water release and another sibling with no release, you never knew what kind of release your siblings or children will have until they are of age, and can manipulate chakra."

The child smiled, thinking of what possibilities she could do with a kekki genkai like her clan has, "That's so cool!" she squealed, excitement shining in her eyes, "What else was different about our clan? Are there more people in it?"

"Calm down, child," her grandmother sighed happily, "Everything about our clan can be found in this chest-"she patted the side of the ancient artifact"-and yes, there are only a handful that I am currently aware of, one of then currently resides here, in Konoha."

Sakura's eyes widened, "Oh, really?!" she gasped, "Do you think I might know them?"

Her grandmother sighed affectionately, "Most likely not, but maybe you've seen them on the streets on your travels with your parents. It is more likely that you have passed Anko on the streets, I believe she just turned jonin a while back."

Sakura's face lit up, "So is this Anko the one who lives here? In Konoha?"

"Yes, she does," nodding her head, the older woman rubbed her hands together, "I have even arranged a meet up, so we could connect to each other before..." her grandmother trailed off, looking down at the ground with a thoughtful face. She instantly brightened up and clapped her hands, "Well, enough of that, I should show you some of the stories and songs that was passed down from generation to generation."

And from then to late into the night, Sakura and her elderly grandmother stayed up late into the night reading and singing the stories of which were around since before the village had been created.

* * *

Sakura's grandmother had wanted her to meet Anko, one of her distant relatives. She had told her that she was only a handful of years older than Sakura was, and was a jonin. Sakura had just turned nine not long ago, and Anko was already twenty. As they walked in the restaurant, Sakura excitedly looked around, wanting to see what Anko looked like.

Her grandmother led her to a table that was close to the door and sat down in it. There was already a woman in it, she had purple hair in a spiked ponytail and had a pale shade of purple eyes as well. She wore a fishnet short with a heavy looking raincoat thing that Sakura wasn't too sure why she even wore it. She also had a few plates of dango in front of her.

"Ah, Anko-chan," her grandmother sighed with a smile as she sat in the table, "I haven't seen you in a while, how have you been?"

Anko snorted, waving the dango stick in her hand, "I've been better, Ibiki has been pushing me to get some of _his_ paperwork done when he should be doing all of that."

Her grandmother smiled, "Is that so? Well, I hope he learns to do his own homework soon." Sakura looked up at her grandmother, and saw as she looked down at her, "I have my granddaughter here, I wanted you two to meet."

Anko's eyes drifted to Sakura's pink hair. "Pink hair?" She sighed, "Well, I guess that pink is more dominant than blonde or something. So, sweets, what's your name?" she asked Sakura, who gave a small smile at the woman.

"My name's Sakura!" she chirped, "And I'm nine."

Anko grinned, "Well, hello Sakura, I'm Anko and I'm twenty, I think we'll get along _very_ well."

* * *

After the Dango shop, Anko decided to take Sakura around the village while her grandmother went home to fix up something to eat for the three of them for dinner. They talked about friends, their dreams for the future, and funny moments.

"-And he was like _'Well I didn't take it'_ and I looked him in the eyes and said _'Well someone did, and you smell like my dango'_ and I ended up in a fight with him, he couldn't use his left arm for the rest of the week and I was taken off the roster for nearly a month." Anko explained happily, grinning, "I really like you, Kiddo, I think I might show you off to some of my friends."

Sakura hummed, nodding her head, "I like you too, you've interesting stories, but I'm not too sure I'd like to show you to my friends, I think they don't like listening about people beating other people up."

Anko cackled, "That why I like you! You liked almost every story I told you!"

Sakura glanced at the sun, and noted that they might have to head to her home soon, "I think we should head home - to my house - grandma said that she'd like to have you over for dinner." Sakura said with a smile and looked back up at Anko.

Anko snorted and looked at the sky, "Yeah, then we should go." she said, then she grinned down at Sakura, "Hey, have you ever ridden on the back of a shinobi when they speed home?"

Sakura's eyes widened, "Uh, no?" then she looked at Anko as she bent over with her knees bent close to her chest.

"Well? Get on." Anko prompted Sakura with a large grin, and laughed when Sakura slid on her back. With the boost of her chakra, Anko was off with the pink haired child clutching to her. Sakura squealed and laughed as Anko jumped and ran at speeds that Sakura had only seen once before.

They arrived at Sakura's home in no time, laughing and giggling and grinning. Sakura let out a happy sigh as she opened the door to her home and walked in with Anko trailing behind her.

"Grandma, we're home!" Sakura called, sniffing at the scent of burning meat, "Grandma~ are you home?" She walked further into the home, and entered the kitchen. "Grandma?" she called again, and looked back at Anko, who had a curious face on. Sakura walked further into the kitchen with Anko tailing her, and she gasped when she saw her grandmother laying on the floor. "Grandma!" she cried, and sped over to her side, shaking the unconscious woman slightly, "Grandma!"

"Sakura, get back," Anko told her, grabbing the child and placing her on the furthest side of the kitchen, "I want you to go get a neighbor, your grandmother needs medical attention, alright?"

Sakura rapidly nodded her head, and scurried away and sprinting to the nearest neighbor. She just hoped that her grandmother was alright.

* * *

 _Well, this is about a hundred words shorter than what I wanted, but I really can't think of anything else that would go well with this chapter right now. I usually decide this shit when I'm in bed, but I haven't slept in almost three days for some reason._

 _I have some comments about the comments I have, they're all really positive and I'm really excited that Ashes to Voices is getting more popular than what I originally thought!_

 _To Guest ; There are no pairing right now, I never planned on pairings first, I just lead things from the beginning to the end. Right now this is a Sakuracentric, and there will be minor pairings between Sakura and her friends._

 _To LadyCalus ; I'm not a big fan of OC's either, but I believe Shijima is a very minor OC. She rarely is seen, and barely has a line in each chapter, the only reason why she comes out is to influence Sakura and/or Inner. I'm currently thinking of making an AU where the main character isn't going to be associated with an OC, but I'm not too sure if I'm actually going to go through with it._

 _To SecretlyADayDreamer ; I know, that's why this one is a little over two thousand words long, I have been trying to make my chapters more lengthy and less choppy, so I'm trying to six my writing style a tad bit, I'm currently doing that with the new Of Broken Bones and Wings chapter, and I think you might see some of it on the next chapter in this story. This chapter has 2,371 words, not including this authors note._


	14. Sparks and Silence

The classroom was loud today, Sakura noted. With a groan she glanced at her blonde friend, who was going on about what his ojii-san did with him. She thought that it was complete bull on how the village treated Naruto, and Shijima even agreed with her.

Shijima rarely agreed with much, so if that was agreed upon, then the village was seriously effed up. With a sigh, she smiled at him, "That's good, Naruto, I'm glad that he visits you."

He smiled brightly at her, his blue eyes glowing, "Yeah, I know! He even said that if I'm good I can even visit Okame-obaa-chan with ya'!" he exclaimed, and Sakura giggled.

"I visited her last night with Anko-chan, obaa-chan told me to tell you that she has some things in the basement that you might like," she told him in a cheery voice, and noticed his face light up with a light blush on his cheeks, "she told me where they were, so you could also come over and take a look."

"Really, really, really?" he excitedly said, grinning ear to ear. He paused to suck in a small breath, and continued, "But I'm not sure what to get her! She's just so nice to me and I really, _really_ want to get her somethin'!"

Sakura smiled softly, and place a hand on his shoulder, "You don't have to get her anything, Naruto, she really likes it that I have a friend, and that's all she wants."

 _'Yeah,'_ Inner-Sakura snorted, _'because being bedridden with a child whom might as well be the partial reincarnation of some suicidal mass-murderer.'_

 _What do you mean by that?_ Sakura answered back, dozing off in the real world.

 _'Haven't you already seen Shijima's landscape?'_ Inner-Sakura answered, scoffing, _'I have a small theory about that, and all of the reasons why you could be some how related to a kitty.'_

 _Again, what do you mean by that?_

 _'What I mean is that since Shijima's dead, her landscape cannot change anymore. In fact, I have reason to believe that to be the place where she died - because my landscape is a pine-forest and yours is a hill surrounded by trees, while hers is a burnt building with corpses and embers, don't you think that's a unique landscape?'_

 _Well, she said she was once a shinobi?_ Sakura said, almost like she wasn't too sure where the conversation was going.

Inner-Sakura snorted, _'I think she's a nuke-nin, I know you don't hear much of her, but when she does talk, sometimes it gets hysteric, like she's gone crazy or somethin' like that. And really, have you ever thought about how it's even possible to come into some infant's mind? I actually asked her about it and she said something about our chakra's matching each other's and that you were a failed reincarnation of her, or that she was the failed reincarnation of someone and you're also a reincarnation and something happened and she somehow wiggled into your mindscape. Or something like that, I haven't talked to her in a while.'_

 _O-Okay_ , Sakura stuttered, _so I'm a reincarnation. Of who?_

Inner-Sakura snorted, _'Honestly, I don't know, I think she said something about an ancient leader of some organization.'_

* * *

"Ohh," her grandmother sighed, "I remember when I first met Natsumaru, he was so vibrant and so full of life."

Sakura giggled, "What was he like back then?"

Her grandmother happily sighed again, "He was wonderful, he loved children, he was motivational, and he was a level-headed person. Not once have I seen him loose his temper."

"Okame-obaa-chan!" Naruto burst into the room holding some flowers in his hands, "I've come to kill your boredom!" he giggled, and bounded towards Sakura's grandmother, handing her the flowers. The elderly woman smiled and grabbed the bouquet, letting Naruto continue his ramblings. "-And then I decided to give you some flowers that I planted a few months ago, Jijii said that I could use somethin' to teach me re-spec, and told me that flowers were a great start! And I only have to water them! Isn't that cool, 'ttebayo!?"

The elder laughed, "Yes, yes, it is very cool, Naruto. Now, why don't you and Sakura go out and get some ice cream? I believe it is a wonderful day for ice cream, don't you think too?"

Sakura blushed, somehow understanding what her grandmother was trying to get to. Hearing Inner snort, she asked why.

 _'Why? Yes, why.'_ Inner growled, _'We're dealin' with a child with chakra that makes Shijima loopy! I mean, have you heard her? She's more crazy than Ino is to Sasuke! Or Sasuke is to his older brother who stole Kamaitachi's name! Or Naruto over ramen!'_

 _Well, it can't be that bad, can it?_

 _''I remember the day I killed my first person, it went like-' or 'he looks like one of my horses(whatever those are!), oh, how I miss her.''_ Inner snapped, clearly quoting the older woman by the lowering of her voice.

"Okay! C'mon, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted, dragging her out of her thoughts. She smiled, letting him hold her hand as she dragged away from her grandmother.

* * *

 _The Ashes have finally found their resting place, the wind no longer blows._

 _For now._

* * *

Huffing, Sakura looked up at the board displaying the food options, which were all mostly sugar-based. Naruto had dragged her to a popular dango shoppe, one of which she never bothered to remember the name of. Although she was sure that Anko spent a lot of time here, by the looks of the pale men and a grinning purple haired jonin.

Sakura smiled, "Hey, Anko-chan!" she shouted, waving her free hand in the air to gather the woman's attention. The purple haired jonin's head snapped towards her, sending her a shit-eating grin.

"Sakura-chan!" she shouted, and jogged towards the small pinkette, freeing the paper-white men from her wrath, "It's been awhile since I've last seen ya', where've you been, and how's Okame-obaa?"

Smiling, she slipped her hand away from Naruto, who was happily ordering what he wanted while the waitress stood pale as she watched his friend interacting with one of the most fearsome woman she had ever seen. "Obaa-chan's doing wonderful, she actually sent Naruto and I out for some ice cream."

Anko frowned, then grinned again, patting the pinkette's head, "Well, good luck," she smirked, "wanna sit next to me? I'm kinda lonely over here!"

Sakura scoffed, "Sure, I'll just have to drag Naruto over here." Turning around to look at the blond, who was waddling over to them with their order filled in his arms, "Or not." she giggled.

"ah, com'on, I have so many things I wanna tell you!"

* * *

Anko, Sakura, and Naruto spent the next half hour talking. Anko told her about some people that she had seen in the T&I, and something about prodigies and their stupidity.

Just as Naruto finished ranting about something that Sakura and Anko tuned out, two boys entered the dango shoppe. Anko cracked a grin and cackled, while Naruto practically snarled at the younger boy.

" _Hey!_ " he snapped, jumping out of his seat, "teme, whad'ar' you doin' here?"

The younger Uchiha continued on like Naruto didn't exist, and Sakura was too familiar with that action. Growling under her breath, she decided to speak, " _Oi_ , Uchiha, he's talkin' to ya', unless you don't have any honor or dignity or whatever, you should at least acknowledge him!" she snapped, her voice cracking at it's sudden use.

The older Uchiha looked amused, while the younger one looked pissed. The older Uchiha talked softly towards the younger one, so softly that Sakura couldn't hear what he said. The younger boy frowned, and clung to the elder as they walked closer to them. Anko had calmed down her cacklings and now was shaking as she held her voice in.

"I am sorry for my little brother's rudeness," the older boy said, "Sasuke can be that way sometimes."

Sakura froze, her eyes on Sasuke. So that was the boy who Ino liked to talk about. Sasuke saw her gaze and glared at her, and she glared back at him. Anko saw the scene and giggled madly. Sakura placed her gaze on the older boy, which she guessed was Itachi. Giving him a small smile, she waved. "I'm Sakura."

"Uchiha Itachi." he stated softly.

"Heh," she giggled, "I have a ferret named Kamaitachi, he's really lazy, but he doesn't bite."

 _'Not that often,'_ Inner-Sakura snorted, her voice unheard, _'but when he does, it hurts a lot.'_

Sasuke's glare increased threefold, but Sakura chose to ignore him, favoring rambling on about her pet. "-but he seems to like apples better, so I usually give him some salad with apples and other fruits or meats in it-"

Sasuke seemed to have finally snapped, "Don't talk about your stupid pet!" he snapped at her, making the whole table freeze. Even Anko quit her mad giggles.

Sakura sat there, frozen to the spot. She started shaking, her chin trembling. Tears gathered in her eyes, and she hopped to the other side of the table where Anko was and wailed in her arms, "He insulted her! He insulted Obaa-chan!"

Anko cruelly smiled, "Oh?" she asked, her voice low, "And why is that?"

Sakura clutched onto Anko's overcoat, "He-He called Kamaitachi _stupid_!" she sniffed, snarling at the end.

Sasuke's eyes widened, and he looked fearfully up to his brother, and only received a sympathetic look. Itachi sighed, how did his brother get so... aggressive?

"Please forgive Sasuke," he said humbly, looking at the small pink haired child, "he never meant to insult your grandmother."

Said child turned to face him, her face dry, as if she were acting. Her face was set in a frown, her bottom lip sticking out while her eyes glared at him with such ferocity that he wondered who raised that girl. "He has to do the apol'gizin', not you," she rasped out, "and he has ta' learn to not insult somethin' he doesn't know."

Itachi glanced at his younger brother, and stared. Sasuke felt the stare, and looked back at his older brother. Seeing the look Itachi was giving him, Sasuke snapped his neck back at the pinkette and glared at her some more, but then grunted out an apology. Anko looked displeased, and Naruto was ordering some more food for him and Sakura and Anko.

Sakura dozed off, somehow caught up in a conversation with Inner.

 _'-that's also another theory as to why she acted that way, or maybe it was because your mind barriers were breaking during that time, but other than that, that's all to it right now.'_

 _Are you sure she would do something like that? She doesn't seem to want to break out in the middle of the day while I'm napping._

 _'Well, now that I think about it, maybe it's when you're being bullied or feeling threatened or something like that. She could probably have some sort of evil desire that's just hidden so well that I can't feel it. After Otou-san and kaa-chan passed, she seemed to be planning som-'_

"Sakura-chaaann~!" Naruto's voice snapped her out of her musings, snapping her back into reality.

She hummed, looking at him with wide eyes, "Wha'd I miss?" she asked him, glancing momentarily at the Uchiha's and Anko.

Anko huffed, frowning at the girl's antics, while Naruto babbled about what she missed.

Something inside her broke, almost like nostalgia, but she pushed it down with the help of Inner.

* * *

The sky is almost always black, and the ground was even darker. Only in her vessel's time of need is when she can see. She always hears, feels, and smells, but never has she seen in this land that she now lies in.

She knew Sakura and her outer-most inner voice were talking about it, but she didn't mind. When she lived people always spoke about things that she wasn't supposed to know when she could clearly hear them. But what she did mind was that the girl actually had people to talk with. When she was alive, she rarely spoke to anyone, her voice becoming damaged and raspy and low at it's abuse.

She could _feel_ the ice growing in her veins, it's burning path set for no destination, it's need to feel something physical.

Shaking her nonexistent head, She tuned out her emotions. Sakura's life wasn't hers, so she shouldn't dig hr nose too deep into it.

She heard Sakura and Anko leave the shoppe soundly, saying bye to the Uchiha's and Naruto. Even if She couldn't see, She could feel the young boy's happiness and excitement. It surprised Her how he seemed to love everything on the outside, but she could _feel_ the endless hatred. But, then again, he might be just like her, he might be a vessel for someone like her.

"So," Sakura's high-pitched voice echoed throughout the blank landscape, "what was it like for you, being in the academy, I mean."

Anko hummed, her voice rough on Her nonexistent ears, "I think all of my sensei's hated me," the woman snorted, her chucklings sounded even rougher than her hum, "I think I even caused a few kids to drop out 'cause of me!"

Sakura giggled, and She could almost _see_ the image Sakura thought of, the young sadistic woman grinning evilly at a few children her age.

They walked on for a few more moments, and She was about to tune everything out, but she heard a change if the type on material Sakura and Anko were walking on. Instead of the grainy 'crunch' of the outside, it was a soft 'tap' of tilled floor. She assumed that they were meeting up with the elderly woman.

"Oh," Sakura's grandmother happily sighed, "I see you've brought Anko. Anko-darling, how've you been? I've hard from Tadashi-san that you managed to snag a spot in the T&I department!"

* * *

 _Well, sorry if it was a long wait, school's been busy and a fuckton of fieldtrips goin' on. My ma's planing a few parties(I don't understand why, she has no friends) so I'll also have to help with that. I'm not sure if I talked about Sakura's grandmother's name in the last chapter or not, but 'Okame' is a kind of cherry tree, it's also a goddess of luck and happiness._

 _The last part was mostly so I could get some more words in, it was actually a lot longer, but my luck seemed to have disappeared somewhere, and I've been losing a lot of books and files._


	15. Sparks and Laughter

For some, reading was simple, people barely realize how much they read in a day. But for Sakura, there is always a feeling that she doesn't understand. That she doesn't understand the language she grew up with, like something was wrong with they way the characters of the hiragana and kanji were drawn out. She always ignored the feeling, instead following the instinct that asked her why those words even existed. That voice was not Inner-Sakura, and she knew it wasn't Shijima... but she couldn't help but think those feelings were caused by one of them, that one of them was purposely creating them to get to a point.

Was it because she wanted to know the deeper theory as to why chakra theory wasn't taught to nine year olds? Was it because it was really important to want to know more and more and _more_ about the human body(which she honestly felt like it was a review, but the pressure in her head would only ease to the knowledge).

... Whatever... it's not like anyone would understand. She was the only one who heard voices. She was the one who would could easily be diagnosed with schizophrenia, she was the one who had some( _minor_ ) bipolar issues, she was the one whose best friend is the woman to be feared in the village, and she was the one whose best friend was the 'demon' and 'monster'. There was no one else like her in the village.

Even if she is extremely unique in her own way, she cannot doubt that it means it is all _good_ and _happy_ and _power_ for her; there's always( _always_ ) a price for something. Inner-Sakura? Constant remarks and headaches. Shijima? Always complete confusion and pressure to attack and to split personality? Schizophrenia, easily destroys trust and belief between she and someone else. Hell, even her appearance could be her(or someone else's) downfall. Pink hair isn't common, especially the pink she has, not even her father had her ridiculously pink hair.

But, through thick and thin, she was still Sakura, normal in the eyes of everyone around her, friends with Anko and Naruto, ridiculously smart for her age, and someone not to mess around with.

"Heyyyy~," Anko drawled, "so, I just got your records from school, and I wanna test some of them myself, if that's alright with you?" Anko didn't even wait for an answer, instead grabbing Sakura's skinny wrist and dragging her away to someplace Sakura didn't know, "Okay! That's great! Let's go!"

As the pinkette was dragged away by her distant relative, she could have easily sworn she saw the Uchiha brothers together at a shoppe. When she arrived at some field, Anko turned to face her and grinned, "This is training ground two, it's usually used for academy kids who're better than the rest at something that needs a field, although it's rarely used."

Sakura hummed, nodding her head at Anko, "Will we start?"

Anko snorted, "Hell yeah! I've always dreamed about training you!"

The next few hours flew by for the two, Anko tested Sakura on her kunai and shuriken, did the leaf test, and she even showed Sakura how to pools her chakra to her feet and stick to trees. Sakura was exhausted at the end of the day, and felt like she could sleep away the week. Her grandmother had been placed in an retirement home for the elderly, and was visited often by her granddaughter and her friends. Sakura learned more and more about her clan and kekki genkai, going even deeper into the pit of knowledge that her clan held.

With a sigh, Sakura slumped against Anko's arm, letting the older woman drag her along to home.

* * *

"Sak'ra-chan! Sak'ra-chan!" Naruto chanted, bouncing in his seat, "Guess what! Guess what!"

"What, Naruto-chan?" Sakura drawled, smiling at the hyper blonde, who was clutching onto her arm like his life depended on it.

"I get'ta see the fireworks tonight!" he shouted in her ear, grinning widely, "An' Jiji says that I could bring a friend!"

Sakura hummed wisely, nodding her head, "And who will this person be?"

Naruto blushed, "Wel-Well," he stuttered, clasping his hands together in a wringing motion, "I wanted to ask'ya, if you would come."

She smiled, and covered the bottom half of her face to poorly resist a fit of giggles, "I'd be glad to, Naru-chan," she smiled, feeling that Inner Sakura was cheering her on, "I'll have ta ask Anko-chan first."

Naruto's smile fell a little, "She-she isn't gonna come too, is she?"

Sakura's smile brightened a little bit more, and she hummed, "Who knows. Maybe she'll have to work later than normal, or something came up with an old friend or two, or maybe both."

The blonde's grin came back full blast, and he started humming a happy tune next to her.

* * *

"Anko-chan?" Sakura called softly in the room, the door slightly ajar to see in Anko's room. Anko hummed an answer, and Sakura continued, "Naruto said he wants to take me out to see the fireworks, is it alright that I go?"

Anko shot up from her position on her bed, kunai and shuriken falling from her lap, her eyes wide and a fierce grin on her face, "Ooo!" she drawled lowly, stalking closer to the door, "Like a date!" she hissed, and opened the door further and dragging in the shocked child, "I want to give you _the talk_. And I'm coming with you, _no questions asked._ "

Sakura didn't respond, following the older woman to her bed. Anko sat on the ruffled bed, legs crossed with a large grin.

With a cough, Anko started; "Well, let me tell you how babies are fuckin' made - but don't you fuckin' dare do any of that shit now, you must be twenty to do anything related to baby-makin'!"

* * *

Anko walked next to a flustered Sakura, with a happy Naruto chatting behind them.

 _'Let's hope that we don't run into anyone we might know, the talk Anko just gave us...'_ Inner Sakura shuddered, _'it'll probably haunt us for the rest of our lives.'_

Sakura smiled a little, and bobbed her head to the thought, and giggled when Naruto tripped and fell with a grunt.

"You know what?" Anko suddenly declared, a grin bloomed on her face, "I'mma leave y'all behind an' let'cha do what'cha want, I'mma go to the liquor store n' get drunk with a friend. Stay safe, kiddo's!"

Before the two children could protest, she disappeared in a plume of smoke.

Naruto stared dumbfounded at the spot for a second, then shook his head with a grin, "Come on, Sak'ra-chan! I wanna catch some fish, do you wanna come?"

Left without a choice, Sakura shrugged, and nodded, following the boy to his own devices.

* * *

 _I'm sorry about my inactivity, school's been demanding and I have a really bad case of Writer's Block. I originally wanted to make an omake or two, but, like I just said, I have some serious writers-block._

 _I also have a very weird urge to rewrite this and maybe another one of my stories, so if I decide to rewrite this I will be telling you now that this version won't be discontinued, it'll just be less of a priority than the new version and some of my other stories._


End file.
